


Learning To Love Again

by CaptainParisStarr



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, Spoilers for Post Okumura Palace, Two boys sharing a bed, straight to gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-07-05 04:14:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15855999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainParisStarr/pseuds/CaptainParisStarr
Summary: When Akechi's bike gets stolen late at night he ends up crashing at Leblanc.  Sharing Akira's bed was never his intention and yet now that he has he cannot get the boy out of his head.





	1. Chapter 1

Akechi's steps were slow as he made his way towards Leblanc, positive that the cafe would be closed yet not knowing where to go.

 

As the cafe came into sight, the first thing he noticed was that all the lights were off inside; with numb hands he tried the door. Locked up tight.

 

Now what? He couldn't get home; he had missed the last train and his bike had been stolen. It would take him hours on foot and...

 

The sound of a bolt being drawn back startled him out of his reverie. “Akechi what are you doing here?”

 

“My apologies for disrupting you, Kurusu-san. I had business run late in the area and when I was finally finished I found that my bike had been stolen and trashed; the frame is bent and the tires are slashed. The last train has already left and I do not know how I will get home tonight so please can I sleep here?” His voice shook, but the more he tried to hold back his whirlwind of emotions the more he felt like he was going to cry.

 

“Of course.” He stepped back, allowing Akechi inside the cafe before locking the door again. “What would you have done if I hadn't been on my way downstairs for a drink of water when you tried the door?”

 

“I honestly don't know.” Akechi turned away. “You sure Sakura-san won't mind me sleeping in one of the booths?”

 

“I'm sure he will, but I live in the attic. He can't say anything if I decide to let you sleep on my couch because of this.”

 

“You live here?” Akechi sighed. “Of course you do, why else would you be here so late after closing?”

 

“Yes I live here.” He led Akechi upstairs. “I have an old tee and some sweatpants you an borrow if you don't want to sleep in your school uniform.”

 

“That would be appreciated.” Akechi turned away as he began to undress; he should get sleep. “I have an early interview tomorrow so I'll need to catch the first train in the morning to make it on time.”

 

“Are you hungry?” The sound of a box being rummaged through was replaced with footsteps that stopped directly behind him.

 

“A little but if I eat now I won't get to sleep for hours.” He accepted the offered clothes; when was the last time he had slept at a friends house? He couldn't recall if he had ever spent the night away from home like this before.

 

Something inside him loosened at the thought that Akira Kurusu was the first person he was sharing a room with as a friend. Not as a lover.

 

As he stepped into the sweatpants he saw Kurusu make up the couch for the night. “Thank you.”

 

“Bathrooms at the foot of the stairs if you need it. Don't mind the cat.”

 

“Cat? You have a cat in a cafe?” He looked around and sure enough there was a cat perched on the window ledge looking at him.

 

“I'm not an ordinary cat you know!”

 

He blinked and bit back at response; the cat clearly came from the Metaverse somehow- did that mean Kurusu was a Phantom Thief?- but to respond now would give away the game that he didn't have powers.

 

No, if they were Phantom Thieves he couldn't say anything; the game was to hunt them down, toy with them more.

 

So he simply thanked Kurusu for his kindness and lay down on the couch but could not get comfy.

 

With his heart in his throat he stood up, crossed the room and slid into bed beside the younger man, who besides sliding over to make room said nothing about them sharing a bed.

 

When Akira woke the next morning Akechi was already gone, nothing but the folded pyjamas lying on the couch to show that he was even there.

 

 

 


	2. 2

It had been two weeks since Akechi had crashed at the cafe; two weeks since Akira had fallen asleep with the detective beside him and woken up alone.

 

When Akira had come home to find the detective there he'd initially wondered if Akechi was there to give him some sort of thank you gift but the truth ended up being far stranger.

 

“Can we talk upstairs?” Akechi finished his coffee with a smile for Sojiro. “That was delicious as always.”

 

“Oh are you two friends? Go ahead.” Akechi paid his bill before following Akira upstairs to the attic bedroom he had only visited once so far.

 

“What did you wish to discuss?” Akira perched on the edge of his bed almost too casually.

 

“Oh nothing in particular I just... because of my job I don't have that many friends. Oh don't get me wrong I have no trouble at all finding classmates willing to go to a movie with me or grab a bite to eat or... go to bed with me even. But none of them are my friends, not fully. They simply wish for the reflected fame of having a famous detective as a 'friend'.”

 

“And you think I could be different from them?” Akira patted the bed beside him, a clear invitation for Akechi to take a seat.

 

“No, I know you are different. From the start, from the first moment we met, I have sensed something genuine about you; something in you that calls out to something in me. I believe we can be friends, true friends. Maybe not best friends but true friends none-the-less. I feel as though you can understand what so many others cannot; how lonely it is to be constantly surrounded by people all day. People who only wish to see what is shown on the surface and not...” He broke off.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

The simple question caught Akechi off guard; was he okay? Why had he stopped speaking?

 

“I actually do not know. Maybe I am not okay. Do you know how hard it is to hide who you truly are day in and day out? To... my charisma is not something that comes naturally but rather something I've had to build up slowly. Acting like the cameras do not affect me when I am being interviewed when in actuality they make me sick to my stomach is draining.” He shook his head, his eyes wide and pleading for Akira to understand.

 

“I think I know what you mean. I was accused of a crime I did not commit and outside of my small group of friends... I cannot simply talk to a classmate even to ask to compare notes because no one trusts me at school and every day I die a little inside because I have to hide the fact that the stares and comments make me want to try. I have to act like I am unaffected, like I don't care what people think. And perhaps that is not so different from having to hide your anxiety from the cameramen.” Akira allowed his hand to drop onto Akechi's for just a moment.

 

“Yes, as I thought we are more alike than we thought.”

 

“I can't get a girl into bed just by winking at her though.”

 

“Actually I have to confess that it's not just the ladies. I can seduce even straight men with relative ease as well, should I choose to.”

 

“Do you choose to?”

 

“That I'd prefer not to comment on. I don't want any rumors about me being gay posted online.”

 

“However at the same time we are opposites; I am avoided like the plague. You draw everyone to you.”

 

“You do have a point there; I cannot avoid being questioned whenever I am recognized. I have even been asked for my opinion on a topic of very minor concern while using a public urinal. However that man seemed more interested in stealing a glimpse of... me rather than my thoughts on the matter.” Akechi's cheeks flared the palest of pink and he subconsciously held his breathe wondering if Akira would ask him about the part that man had gazed upon that day.

 

Instead he winced. “I have had to only use stalls for the past couple of months; forget being spied upon; I get glared at like my bodily needs are a physical threat to anyone else using the toilet at that moment. I don't like guys but at this point I'd take anyone wanting to look at me like that as flattery.”

 

Akechi relaxed. “Trust me its very overrated. Oh is that the time? I'm sure Sakura-san is waiting for me to leave so he can lock up.”

 

“Hey, feel free to drop by anytime okay? If you get lonely just come here and we can talk or watch a movie, whatever you want. If you want to spend the night with someone for companionship rather than sex, my bed is open to you.” Akira looked straight into Akechi's eyes.

 

“My that is quite an intense gaze you have there. You should utilize it more; it will help you seduce anyone you set your heart on.” Akechi's lips twitched upwards into an uncertain smile; one of the first genuine shows of emotion he had displayed since he was a small child.

 

It wasn't until Akechi had left and Sojiro had locked up that Akira realized he had never asked the detective for his number. Oh well, there was always next time.

 

 


	3. 3

“Kurusu? Sakura-san said you might be over here...” Akechi stepped onto the rooftop and glanced around at the batting cages.

 

“Akechi? Over here.” Akira waved to him and the detective hurried over. “Is something the matter?”

 

“Not at all.” He faked a bright smile, a skill that came easily to him now.

 

However nothing was okay; everything was wrong.

 

He had once again used the special power of his to end a life. At _his_ request.

 

The sound of the bat hitting the ball reverberated around the enclosed, yet somehow open space. “What's wrong?”

 

“You're perceptive, most are fooled by that smile. I'm having a hard time, truth be told.” He sighed, glancing down for a long moment before looking back up into Akira's eyes.

 

“A hard time?”

 

“Yes. I cannot go into detail with you but certain tasks I routinely perform as a part of my job as a detective are taking their toll on me.”

 

“Do you need a hug?” Akira set the bat aside, ignoring the next ball that was fired towards him.

 

“You never cease to amaze; a hug?” Akechi looked away once more. “I would not object if you are truly offering.”

 

Footsteps approached him seconds before he was engulfed in the warmth of Akira's arms. “Kurusu-san, thank you.” He embraced the younger boy back as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes.

 

Akira pulled away and for a second Akechi was afraid that his crying had pushed the only person willing to truly be his friend away. Then his cheek was cupped, a warm thumb brushing away his tears.

 

“If you need to cry you can use my shoulder but maybe we should move this to Leblanc? I don't even want to know what a picture of you in tears would be worth.”

 

“Nor would I; such a picture would ruin my reputation.” He wiped his eyes and got himself back under control as the bat was returned and they left together, crossing the short distance between the batting cages and the cafe in companionable silence.

 

“Sojiro, mind if I have a friend stay the night?” Akira nodded towards Akechi.

 

“Since when are you two friends? No I don't mind as long as it doesn't interfere with your schooling. You do know that being late to school a second time will get you written up?”

 

Sighing, Akira nodded. “We are just going to talk before going to sleep. I'll be at school on time tomorrow.”

 

“Good. Now get upstairs so I can close up.” Sojiro dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

 

“I can't tell if he was being kind or if he just didn't care.” Akechi took each step of the staircase thoughtfully, the urge to cry having passed.

 

“Here. I saved these for you.” He handed Akechi the same old tee and sweatpants he'd worn the first time he'd slept in the attic.

 

“Oh that reminds me, I do not have your number.”

 

Akira gave it to him willingly as he changed for bed, only Akechi's lingering melancholy over having taking a life keeping him from outing himself by reacting to the sight of Akira's body.

 

“Whatever it is that has you so down; can't you just refuse to do it anymore.” Akira lay down on his bed once in his pyjamas and moved over towards the wall.

 

“It's not that simple; I am in no position to refuse.” Akechi's breath caught in his throat as he lay down beside Akira. “This bed is too small for two men.”

 

“Hmm... is it?” Akira's arm encircled his waist as Akechi rolled onto his side, effectively spooning him. “You can cry now.”

 

“Thank you, but I no longer need to. Simply being around you is enough.” Akechi closed his eyes as he relaxed against the other boy. “How long has it been since we first met?”

 

“Hmm... two months? Why?”

 

“Oh no reason. That short a time huh? It feels like I've always known you, in a way.”

 

“I feel the same.” Akechi couldn't be sure but as he drifted off to sleep it felt like a feather light kiss was pressed against the back of his neck.

 


	4. 4

Akechi laughed, the sound echoing off the walls, a hysterical laughter that was more than a little insane. Even as Loki folded back inside him, he laughed, the gun light in his hand. So light. So easy to pull upwards, to aim at his own head...

 

His face flashed through his mind and the hand holding the gun dropped back down to his side.

 

Not Shido's face; the face of the man who fathered him, who he was now also sleeping with as a safeguard to stay close to him.

 

If only Shido knew that the boy in his bed was his own son! That shock will add something when it was all revealed, in the end.

 

Usually it was his father's face that brought him back from the brink of oblivion after he made a kill, or turned someone psychotic, but not today.

 

Today it was the face of Akira Kurusu that grounded him, kept him from blowing his own head off.

 

It had been several weeks since he had started spending the odd night with Akira, crying into his shoulder sometimes after a mission.

 

He wanted more. He wanted to touch, to taste Akira's skin, taste his blood and his release. Taste his mouth and his ass.

 

Taste all of him.

 

Could he though? Despite the soft kisses that sometimes peppered his skin when he was crying against the boy, Akira was by his own admittance straight.

 

Sudden bright sunlight made him blink; when had he left the Metaverse? Oh well it was of no concern now; his phone vibrated in his pocket. Akira?

 

No, not Akira, but rather Sae Niijima's younger sister; it seems he had been selected as the special guest for the Shujin school festival. Not a celebrity or idol, but him.

 

His fingers moved almost on their own, typing out a quick message stating simply that he would consider it.

 

Shoving the phone back into his pocket he headed for the lockup where he had left his new bike; a gift from Daddy as a reward for all the successful shutdowns and breakdowns that had been happening.

 

Of course he would accept; he had evidence now that Akira and his friends were the Phantom Thieves; the game was reaching its end. He would join the team to change Sae's heat then turn Akira in...

 

The wind felt cold against his face, was his face wet? He stopped his bike and reached up to touch his cheek.

 

He was crying. He was so numb inside he couldn't feel that he was crying. Why was he crying? Because he was going to betray the boy he loved?

 

Wait... loved? Since when did he love Akira Kurusu?

 

Shaking his head hard he got himself back under control; he could not afford to fall in love, not now.

 

Not when all his plans hinged on using the boy his heart desired to get revenge upon the man who had abandoned him, who had left his Mother to her fate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this got so dark; the next chapter will switch to Akira's POV and will be of a lighter tone again.


	5. 5

"Oh you're here." Akira almost dropped his bag just inside the door to Leblanc, then he remembered the cat lounging inside it.

 

"Yes I am here." Akechi grinned brightly from his perch at the bar. "I have been invited to the Shujin school festival, but ah I'm sure you knew that already. I plan on going." He stood up.

 

"Good but..." Akira searched his friends eyes. "Are you leaving already?"

 

"I can stay longer if you wish me to." The overwhelming sadness and despair that sometimes shone from Akechi's beautiful brown eyes was absent today. 

 

Akira wasn't stupid; he knew perfectly well that the days Akechi came to him in tears needing to be held matched the days of mental shutdowns. Also, he reacted to Morgana's voice even though he had only once responded to something the cat had said.

 

It didn't matter; he knew that even if he was responsible; even if Akechi was the true criminal; he was being used by someone else. Someone who didn't care that he was breaking something inside Akechi's soul.

 

"Lets go upstairs." Akira put Morgana outside, certain that Futaba would take the cat in for the night.

 

"Kurusu-san..."

 

"Akira. My name is Akira, Goro." The name felt both foreign and right on his tongue, the intimacy of the first name kindling something inside him.

 

"Akira." A faint blush dusted Akechi's cheeks with dusty pink as his lips formed the name.

 

"I need to ask again, do you like boys?"

 

"Yes." The word was a faint whisper but it was all Akira needed as he cupped a red cheek with one hand as he leaned in and claimed a soft kiss.

 

"Akira? You don't like boys. You told me that yourself when we first shared your bed." Akechi tensed as though to pull away but his body didn't move.

 

"I know but I like you. Feeling you sleep in my arms... the way you sometimes roll onto me, thrust against me in your sleep..." Shaking his head Akira searched for the words. "Turned me on, in ways girls never have. Maybe its about connection, not gender."

 

"Connection..." Akechi stepped closer and laid his cheek against a broad shoulder, facing away from Akira. "I don't deserve you."

 

"Because of whatever it is he makes you do that makes you cry?" Akechi nodded against him, a gesture more felt than seen. "I want to fix what he broke in you."

 

"Fix me? You can't fix me."

 

"Maybe not but I won't know until I try. And I am going to cry." Soft kisses began raining down on Akechi's hair, not stopping as he raised his face to offer the younger teen his lips.


	6. 6

What had just happened? Akira fought to keep his cool as he stared at the boy he loved.

 

At the boy who had just blackmailed the entire group he led.

 

“Akechi are you seriously going to do this?” Akira blinked, pain ripping through his heart.

 

Only a few night before he had fallen asleep sated after a heavy make-out turned jerk-off session with the boy now looking at him like he meant nothing.

 

And yet part of him knew that Akechi loved him back. He had to, right?

 

“We have no choice but to accept do we?” How was he sounding so calm when his entire world was shattering?

 

“No you do not.”

  
“Akechi, if you wanted to join us you could have just asked. We both want to catch the man behind all of this...” He trailed off, looking away.

 

“That man shot at me and I awoke to a strange power however that does not make me the same as you. I am willing to cooperate with you to change the heart of a target of my choosing, one that will prove there is another culprit. I am not joining your little team, just cooperating with you.” Akechi glanced down at his phone. “Ah but we have spoken long enough; I do not need your answer today, we should resume the panel before I get lynched for taking too long!” Turning on his heel, Akechi left the room with a bright smile and a wave of his hand.

 

 

 

 

“What did you want to talk about?” Everyone was in his attic bedroom at Leblanc, all except for the boy he had had in his bed only a few days earlier.

 

“Akechi's 'deal', should we accept it? He's blackmailing us, we all know that but still he makes a good point. If the police arrest us now, everything will be over. Nothing will change.”

 

Morgana jumped up onto the table they were gathered around. “Today was not the first time he has heard my voice; his surprise at learning I can talk was so fake!”

 

“Not the first time?” Ryuji frowned, then suddenly screamed a single word. “Pancakes!”

 

“Exactly!”

 

“Pancakes?” Makoto looked at Ryuji like he was crazy.

 

“It was during the school trip to the TV station, I was discussing where to go after the first day with Ann and Ryuji when Morgana commented that he wanted to go to the 'pancake looking place', Dometown. Akechi butted in on our conversation and asked us if we were going to get pancakes. Only Morgana had said anything about pancakes.”

 

Eyes widened at the story, but Akira was not finished. “He's also been coming here in tears from time to time and each of those dates matches the date of a mental shutdown or psychotic breakdown. Someone is forcing Akechi to kill and it is tearing him apart. Even if we accept his deal, no maybe especially if we accept his deal, we have to be cautious around him. Goro Akechi is not a mentally stable person.”

 

“So he's the killer but someone else is pulling his strings?”

 

“He's a puppet, a weapon to be wielded. Taking him down is pointless, the man controlling him will simply find or create another puppet to do his, or her, bidding.” Akira looked at each member of his team in turn before continuing. “Having said that, a wise man once said to 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.' I believe we should accept his deal and use it against him.”

 

As one his teammates nodded in agreement. “First we will need to tap his phone and see if he won't spill the name of the man he is working for. Futaba?”

 

“Leave it to me! It won't be easy but I'll get the job done!”

 


	7. 7

“Have you reconsidered yet?” Akechi felt the words get whispered into his ear, each accompanied by a puff of breath that stank of coffee and cigarette smoke. One of his fathers followers, but he didn't know which one.

 

Akechi tested the rope that held him bound to the desk; Shido's desk, but it held fast, keeping his arms and legs spread wide.

 

Something wet ran down his wrist and he stilled, fearing that it was blood. There was no pain, his entire body was numb; too numb to feel pain as yet another unknown man used his ass as a cumdumpster. Used him as a mindless doll, a sex toy, someone to be used, abused, and tossed aside.

 

All because he had fallen hard and fast for the wrong boy; a boy he hadn't even fucked yet just jerked off once in a single night of heated passion.

 

He tried to speak, to say that he'd rather die than kill the one he loved, but the ball gag took his words from him. His blindfolded eyes searched blindly for the man speaking to him; a man whose voice was only vaguely familiar to him.

 

How many had used him so far? A dozen? A hundred? He neither knew nor cared but that didn't stop him from screaming around the gag as yet another man shoved his manhood inside his torn and bleeding hole.

 

Tears soaked the blindfold, making it heavier, deepening the darkness surrounding him.

 

He didn't even know how long he had been tied up; if he was hungry, if he needed to pee. Nothing mattered except getting free, and the force of the man fucking his ass.

 

And the scrape of the cathoder inside his cock, making him moan as he shifted, piss and cum mixing in the attached bag as he was used again and again, forced to ejaculate from stimulation alone even as he cried and begged with his body for it to stop. Just stop!

 

 

* * *

 

 

“You wanted to see me?” Akechi stepped into Shido's office.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Shido shoved his phone into the detectives face, the screen glowing with the anonymous e-mail; “I can't do this anymore. I won't kill him.”

 

“What is this?” Akechi feigned shock. “I didn't send this!”

 

“Sure you didn't; everyone knows my private email!” A hand slammed Akechi's face into the desk. “Do you take me for an idiot? Who else but you could have sent this?”

 

“I love him! I can't... I can't kill someone I love!” Akechi blurted as the first warm rush of blood flooded down his face from a cut on his forehead where it had collided with a paperweight.

 

“Love?” Shido sneered at the word. “Love means nothing but weakness. Do it.” For two whole seconds Akechi thought Shido was still talking to him, then a hand clamped down over his mouth and nose, the scent of chloroform flooding his brain even as the room went black around him.

 

When he awoke he was already tied to the desk, an unknown cock in his ass.

 

 

* * *

 

 

He must have passed out a second time because next thing he knew he was in the back of a car, a gun pointed to his head. “Open the path or I'll have him blow your slut head off.”

 

Akechi felt true terror for the first time in his life as he went cross-eyed trying to keep his eyes on the gun being pressed to his forehead right between his eyes.

 

“Yes! Yes, I'll open the path!” Adrenaline alone got his tortured limbs to move as he got out of the car, already calling up the Metaverse nav, all too aware of the masked man moving with him, keeping the handgun leveled at his head.

 

His hand shook only slightly as he activated the app, leading the army off police officers into the Metaverse to capture the boy who had taught him how to let go and love someone else again.

 

As soon as the last man was inside, he was dragged back into the car, the gun once more pressed into his skin as the seconds turned to hours and the minutes turned to days until, finally, after what felt like weeks the confirmation of Jokers capture came through and a single tear ran down Akechi's cheek. He was shoved unceremoniously from the car as Shido drove off to discretely follow the armored car to the police station.

 

 

* * *

 

 

How he got home he never knew, he'd moved in a haze of color and sound until he somehow reached his front door. Collapsing onto the floor just inside his locked front door, he dug his cell out of his pocket; hoping against hope for a charge he pressed the button to activate the screen and it flared to life, a ten percent charge warning flashing across the screen.

 

Ignoring the warning he called up his contacts, his finger hovering over the number Akira had given him but he'd never called, but he hesitated. If Akira was still in custody, he could be signing both their death warrants by calling him. Frantically he scrolled for another number, any other Phantom Thief number.

 

He came to an unsaved number that he realized with a start belonged to Makoto Nijiima. From when she called him about that stupid Shujin guest panel.

 

His hands shook as he pressed the button to dial the number, praying she would pick up.

 

“What?” Her tone was short as she answered.

 

“I've done something horrible! Please, help me fix the biggest mistake of my life!”

 


	8. 8

Akechi watched through the windows as one by one they all embraced him, celebrating his return from the dead.

 

It had been a clever plan, very clever, and it might even had worked, had he not known. Had he not forced Makoto to tell him every detail as he cried to her on the phone.

 

He knew the moment he stepped into the Metaverse; he knew that he'd only killed a cognitive apparition.

 

Even so it had taken every last ounce of courage he had to pull the trigger, to pantomime the murder Shido had expected him to commit.

 

“A group of crows is a murder... how long have they known?” At the time, when Futaba so casually said that his code name would be Crow, the hidden message had escaped him. It was close enough to Karasu, or Raven, that he hadn't even blinked.

 

Then he'd stumbled across that little fact quite by accident, as he had researched anything and everything on his phone waiting to see if the ploy had been successful... or if he had really killed the only person he loved. Maybe the only person he had ever truly loved in his entire life.

 

The second Makoto had texted him; a burner cell number he had hastily bought a few days earlier; he had rushed to Leblanc, but he couldn't make himself enter the cafe.

 

He didn't deserve to be a part of the happy celebrations, but he also couldn't make himself leave again.

 

“What are you doing?” The voice was so close, so sudden, that Akechi jumped two feet off the ground before spinning around, and slipping on an unseen puddle. He would have fallen unceremoniously onto his butt had Ryuji not grabbed his arm.

 

“What?”

 

“What are you doing out here? Come on, he wants to see you.” The blond shook his head. “Akira is crazy, falling for someone like you but the fact is he does love you. And I think you love him, yeah? So get your butt in there.”

 

Before Akechi could so much as draw breath to protest, he was being shoved through the doorway and into Leblanc.

 

“Akechi.”

 

“Akira, hi.” He winced, could he have said anything that could make him sound any dumber?

 

“He was lurking in the shadows outside the window, watching us.”

 

“Creep.”

 

“Futaba, be nice. From what I hear, he changed his mind at the last second, and tried to bail out of the plan to arrest Akira.” Sojiro stared intensely at Akechi and he felt his cheeks redden.

 

“I couldn't kill him; he's grown to precious to me.” He forced himself to meet every set of eyes until he found Makoto. “Thank you for believing and trusting me. This could have gone very wrong if I'd bailed not knowing your plan... or...” But he couldn't say it.

 

And then Akira was there, in his arms, kissing him as though his friends weren't there. “Stay the night?”

 

“You need to heal!”

 

“H-heal?”

 

“They beat me in there.” Akira pulled back and lifted his shirt, showing off bruises so dark across his ribs and stomach they were almost black.

 

“I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I said I wasn't going to do it, that I wasn't going to let those men into the Metaverse... Shido tied me to his desk... let anyone who wanted to rape my ass... then he had a man hold a gun to my head. If I hadn't... I'd be dead.”

 

The room went dead silent; even the cat had nothing to say for once. Sojiro recovered first, clearing his throat audibly before commenting that he needed to close up.

 

After that everything happen fast, in flashes of color and sound; Sojiro locking up as Futaba carried Morgana to their place; Akira leading him up the stairs...

 

Undressing, feeling Akira's naked body against his own...

 

Hearing Akira say that he wanted to bottom.

 

The feeling of Akira under and around him; never once had Akechi ever imagined that they do it like this, with him on top. He'd never topped before, and each thrust felt rushed and clumsy.

 

Only the sounds Akira made, the feeling of his nails digging into his back when he hit something just right, kept him from stopping; that and the deep kisses Akira kept stealing from him.

  
After they just lay there, quiet in each others arms until they fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While both crow and raven are valid English translations of the Japanese karasu, a group of ravens is an unkindness and a group of crows is a murder. This is just my own theory, and unconfirmed, but when Crow gets chosen over raven as Akechi's code name, it seems as though he's being told "We know you're the murderer."


	9. 9

The gunshot reverberated loudly around the room, seeming to grow louder and louder, even as Akechi's numb hands dropped the gun. What had he done? This wasn't the plan! The plan was for Shido to have a full change of heart, to live for years with the full weight of his reborn conscious plaguing him every second of every day.

 

He had ruined that in a split second; the gun in his hand and the trigger pulled before he had even known what he was doing.

 

“NO!” The scream tore out of him as his legs buckled beneath him, his ass hitting the floor as he stared at where Shido's Shadow had just stood, before he shot it. Before he killed it.

 

He had just killed his own father, condemned him to suffer a mental shutdown.

 

“Come on! We have to move! The Cruiser is already collapsing!” There were hands on his arms, voices speaking to him, but he could not focus on any of it.

 

Distantly, he felt himself get pulled to his feet. He was running, through hallways, then he blinked and they were out on the deck. A lifeboat hung nearby; Ryuji was running towards it. Another blink and they were back in the real world, outside the Meta-Verse, only Ryuji wasn't with them.

 

In yet another blink, the blond was there. The girls were yelling at him, but Akechi couldn't hear a word that was said over the rush of blood in his ears.

 

“What... what have I...?”

 

“He's in shock! Joker, we need to get him back to Leblanc! Unless anyone knows Crow's address?” Akechi knew, of course he knew his own home address, but his brain refused to pass that information to his mouth. He closed his eyes for just a second, too tired to keep them open any longer.

 

“Can you hear me?” He opened them again, to find himself in the familiar attic Akira called his bedroom.

 

“Yes. How long was I out?”

 

“A few hours. Here.” An ice cold glass of water was pressed into his hand and Akechi realized his throat was dry as sandpaper.

 

“Thank you.” He downed the water in two large gulps.

 

“There's some curry here too, if you think you can eat. You gave us all a real scare.” The words were conversational, mild, but they still stopped Akechi's heart cold.

 

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shoot him. Oh God you must have thought I was going to shoot all of you!”

 

Arms encircled him, and he found his back nestled comfortably against a strong chest. “No, thats not what scared us. We all knew that you might go against the plan and shoot the bastard who had caused you so much pain anyway. We were prepared for that. However we were not prepared for you to go into shock immediately afterwards. That's what scared us. I was terrified that you might die...” Akira broke off, and for the first time since that fateful evening his bike had been stolen, Akechi was the one to feel the wetness of anothers tears.

 

“Akira?”

 

“I love you, Akechi Goro. I don't know why, but I do. And today I thought I was going to lose you forever.” He felt Akira bury his face against the back of his shoulder, but he was held too tightly to turn around. All he could do to give comfort was close his hands over Akira's.

 

“Then, just when we thought we'd have to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital, you passed out and that evened out your pulse and breathing. We brought you back here and let you sleep. Its over, its all over, and he will never be able to use you, to hurt you, again. His death was confirmed by the news reporters just a few minutes before you woke up. Same as Kunikazu Okumura's, only Shido didn't die on live TV.”

 

Akechi wanted to cry; the man may have been a bastard but he was still his father; yet the tears would not come. He felt no urge to sob, nor to laugh his insane laughter.

 

In fact, he felt nothing at all. Nothing, that is, but desire for the boy who was holding him.

 

“Make love to me. I need to know that I'm alive and loved. Maybe then I can cry for my Fathers death.”

 

Akira finally allowed him to turn around, to look him in the eye. “Are you sure?”

 

He nodded a yes. “I've been taken, raped... fucked. But I've never been made love to. Like I did with you that night.” Had it been weeks ago or mere days? Akechi no longer knew, only that he hadn't touched Akira since then.

 

Then there were no more words, only sweet, soft kisses that tasted salty from Akira's tears. The feeling of his clothes being removed, not ripped from him but removed properly, gently.

 

The feeling of lube slicked fingers probing him, stretching him out until the pain was gone, and he was panting with the beginning of ecstasy.

 

Then Akira was inside him, and he was home. There were no other words to describe how perfect it felt; not like being used, but that he was being completed.

 

That night was the first time he came before his partner, the first time he came more than once in a single round.

 

There was no round two, for the tears came after Akira had pulled out, tossing a condom Akechi had not noticed he was wearing into the trash. As Akira cleaned sweat and cum from Akechi's pale flesh, the tears came hot and fast, and then he was being held by the boy he now knew was the missing piece of his heart. Never before had he believed in soul mates, and even now that term felt too pale to describe how he felt about Akira.

 

In the morning, he was awakened by soft kisses and whispers of 'I love you.' The words rose to his own lips and he found himself saying them back, for the first time without hesitation, or wonder as to what the words meant. His heart felt light, and he knew he was at last beginning to heal.

 


End file.
